The Washington critic., 1887-07-14
OUR POSTAL SYSTEM.
Its Original Establishment in the
American Colonies.
POINTS OF HISTORIC INTEREST
DR.. Franklin's Career as Deputy
Postmaster General.

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the people began at an early date to
agitate the subject of postal communi-
cation. their plans seem TO have been
confined chiefly to the limits of their
own colonies. Among the earliest
legislation Of this character is an act
passed by the General Assembly of the
province of Maryland in 1861, entitled
IAN act for the conveyance of letters
concerning the state of public affairs"
for the period of three years, which
was continued In force by subsequent
reviving acts until 1869. In 1905 a
regular post was established from the
Potomac River to Philadelphia, when
John Perry was appointed post rider at
a salary of $50 per annum. He was
required to traverse his route and to
carry all public messages and deliver
all letters and packages to the inhab
itants eight times year.
THE FIRST GENERAL rosToFrIcE.
In 17lO Parliament established a gen.
eral postotlice for all the colonies, but
what became of this act or It's enforce
ment the record is imperfect. We find
none of its results until In 17l7 there
was a settled post established between
Williamsburg, Va, through Maryland
and the northern colonies to Boston
once a month, and under the law of
1710 the mails continued to be carried
down to the period of the Revolution.
From all we can learn X Is quite
probable that In these efforts the malls
were moi transported under the protec-
tim Df Inpku nnl kavc and m ri ~, nj
ter was delivered by the post rider,
directly to the inhabitants or riders of
private or cross posts" as they were
called, who were employed and paid
for their services by persons not living
on the direct or through routes. Other
methods were resorted to by which the
inhabitants were accommodated, such
as leaving the mails at various desig.
mated points on the route. Tradition
has 1t that certain tree until quite re.
Gently standing In the town of DuX-
bury, Massachusetts. where the old
road from Boston to Duxbury diverges
to the town of Plymouth, was called
the Tree of Knowledge from the
fact that the residents of Duxbury
placed box upon II into which the
carrier or post rider placed the letters,
etc, etc., and the Inhabitants were &C.
customed for years to go there and
select the mail for their neighborhood,
and persons deposited letters there to
be forwarded.
Thus in the State of New Hampshire
there was but one postoflice in the year
1790-that at Portsmouth. A few years
ago the writer was shown the adver-
tised list Of letters remaining In that
Office in the year 1887, in which there
were letters directed to persons living
In distant parts of the State. The di.
rections were generally as follows:
Peter Jones (Epping), Portsmouth, N.
II. Just prior 10 and during the revo.
luton this was the most important Of
fee In New England outside of Boston.
EARLY LEGISLATION.
In 17l3 the General Assembly of the
province of Maryla passed a law en-
titled IAN act for the more speedy
conveying of public letters and packets
of this province, and defraying the
charge thereof; and to prevent the
abuse of breaking open and concealing
any letters whatsoever" BY this act
the sheriffs of the several counties were
enjoined and commanded to take care
of all public letters and packets, and
TO convey them to the sheriff or his
deputy Of the adjoining county. For
this duty he was paid from the public
levy certain specific sums while It con.
tinued in force the sheriff of Talbot
County was paid eight hundred pounds
of tobacco annually for this service.
While Parliament made provisions
for postoffice for, all the colonies as
early as 1710, II does not appear that
any great benefit accrued to the inhab-
itants from this act for many years, as
the colonies continued to provide postal
facilities for themselves until the
troubles with the mother county were
upon them.
Nor does 1t appear that the home
Government took much Interest In sup
plying the colonies with postal facil.
tiles for very many years. Not until
1853 do we find that any definite action
was taken looking to a proper eXecu.
tlon of the law. In that year DR..
Benjamin Franklin and w. Hunter
were appointed Deputy Postmasters.
General for the Colonies; the former
served until removed by the British
Ministry late In the year 117i. Mr..
Hunter appears to have been an un.
known quantity In connection with the
office or the postal affairs of the
colonies, as beyond the fact of his ap.
pointment little Is heard of him. DR..
Franklin S salary was fixed at 5000 per
annum ("provided he can get it'),
which prOvlso goes far to prove that
the British Government intended the
colonies to take care of themselves so
far as that was concerned.
DIR. FRANKLIN's OFFICIAL CAREER.
The zeal and energy with which DIR.
Franklin entered upon his duties
demonstrated how deeply interested he
was In the welfare of the colonies, as
It is stated that the experiment brought
him In debt 5000, He however,
pushed matters vigorously and made
the most he could out of the means at
his command. AS early as the year
following his appointment Q1J4) 1t is
said that the people were startled by
New England would leave Philadel.
phia once week throughout the year,
whereas they had heretofore only done
so once In two weeks in winter.
In 1860 he proposed TO run stage
wagons between Philadelphia and B IS.
ton for The conveyance OF the mails,
one leaving each city on Monday
morning and reaching Its deglinatiOn
Saturday night. 1t appears that up to
this time it had taken two weeks Ia
convey the mail over this route. The
advantages OF this arrangement were
said to be that the people would thus
be enabled to receive answers to letters
sent between the two cities In three
weeks instead of SIX as had been the
case heretofore.
At this distant day tho obstacles that
DIR, Franklin had TO overcome In the
discharge Of his duties fail to be prop.
orly estimated. A country sparsely
settled and In many cases without roads,
and the post rider as u general thing
compelled to ford the streams along